DON'T REPEAT THIS

Drowning out your message

I’ve been thinking about repetition lately. Which, in and of itself, is repetitive. Still, I’ve got to get this off my chest, but I will only say it once: there is a right and a wrong way to use repetition.

REPEAT WORTHY

I love you cannot be said enough to the people who matter.

Don't touch that. Starting with our parents and a hot stove and morphing to our best friend's warning us off a player at the bar, repetition is educational and life-saving.  

Please. Thank you. Those words feel automatic but we notice their absence. Small though they are, they hold civilization together.

NOW THE DARK SIDE

I'm talking about the grating, scream-inducing repetition that advertisers, businesses, and, yes, authors sometimes employ to the detriment of their brands.

Case in point. My favorite coffee shop where I take my laptop, sit under a mermaid picture, and write to the ebb and flow of coffee-drinking humanity, energizes me. I love the muted sounds of conversation…until the door opens and I hear a barista shout, ‘WELCOME IN’.

Every. Single. Time.

I GET IT

Some executive thought this odd greeting would make customers feel warm and fuzzy. The brand would be elevated. Instead they created a call-loop that is as meaningless to those who mouth the words a hundred times a day as it is to those who hear them.

IT'S NOT JUST REPETITION

To be fair, it isn't just the repetition of the phrase that brings nothing to the brand table, it is that these particular words don't bear repeating. Doesn’t welcome imply that you are — well—in.  We don't say goodbye out. Adding that extra syllable has a faint whiff of insecurity, as if the welcome itself isn't confident enough to stand on its own.

POWER THROUGH MEANING

Say I love you a thousand times and its meaning grows. But strip a phrase of genuine feeling, creativity and joy, make it policy, drill it into someone until it's as reflexive as blinking and all you get is noise.

For writers, pounding out a phrase, a word, or a theme signals to the reader that you do not trust them to get the message.  For business, mindless repetition of words that make us pause tells the customer your sincerity is scripted rather embedded in your culture.

Important things repeat naturally because they are shared between people who are invested in a certain truth. In the marketplace repetition is often followed by imitation so the impact of the original idea is further diluted. I have been ‘welcomed in’ at two local clothing shops and heard it used in a bank commercial on TV. I left the stores without buying anything and turned off the TV. I'd heard it before.

THE GOOD NEWS

Since the topic of repetition captured my imagination, I have changed my ways.

1) There are phrases I favor and utter reflexively. I will now think twice about that.

2) I scrapped 15,000 words of my new book because I had boringly, if not brilliantly, said the same thing three different ways. My readers deserve better.

3) Finally, I will keep my nagging to a minimum for fear that my husband will stop listening. Like 'welcome in' at some point repeating my message is just noise.